Project Black Betty 3-inch Catback Exhaust - Can You Hear Me Now?

Enough With The Stock Mufflers - Black Betty Gets More Vocal With A Chambered Exhaust System From Stainless Works.

Here at Camaro Performers magazine, we tend to focus on the performance side of the hobby; hence the name "Performers" as part of the title. With that said, the pressure was on to get our fourth-gen project car, Black Betty, to sound like it meant business. The stock exhaust was so docile in the decibel department that the car's bark, or lack thereof, was nowhere near its bite. Something had to give. With the car sporting a killer stance and an aggressive tire and wheel combination, it was time to get this car more vocal. Besides, robbing a car's ability to exhale with ease is a horsepower killer and, with only about 330 hp to the wheels, that's the last thing we want to do with this car.

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Now, we've heard plenty of fourth-gens with aftermarket exhaust systems bolted up, but we have yet to hear anything that sounds better on an LS-powered engine than a chambered exhaust system. The characteristics of the exhaust note are pure and aggressive-exactly what we needed on our latest project car.

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In our quest for a look and sound to match the personality of the car, we called the crew at Stainless Works Exhaust Products and they pointed us to their '93-02 F-body 3-inch Catback exhaust (PN CA9302CH, $989.68). Their CNC mandrel-bent, 304L stainless steel, 18-gauge, 3-inch tubing comes with all the necessary hangers and correct bends for easy installation. To finish things off, we went with their 3-inch chrome Y-tips (PN 7020300, $156.27).

One of the benefits of the Stainless Works exhaust is that it produces a distinct growl at idle and cruising, but once you hammer the throttle, all hell breaks loose. We like that. Since Stainless Works includes a 31/2-inch chambered mid-section, interior drone is a non-issue even at low rpm highway driving.

Needless to say, we finally have Black Betty sounding like it should. Now all we need is a little more horsepower. We'll address that "little" issue soon enough.

•To see and hear before and after video of the exhaust installation, go to www.camaroperformers.com.

MORE PHOTOS

Here's the Stainless Works 3-inch Catback system laid out how it flows under the Camaro. Actually, it would be more accurate to call it a Y-pipe-back system, but why get all nit-picky at this point?

The stock system was way too quiet for our more raucous tastes. For now we would leave the factory Y-pipe arrangement alone and just swap from the intermediate pipeback.

Much of the factory system is welded together and, since it was just heading for the dumpster, the fastest way to get it out was to break out the trusty reciprocating saw. Josh Gledhill at the Muffler Man in Placentia, California, sliced the tubing where it popped up over the axle.

After loosening the band clap, Josh removed the factory intermediate pipe. The scrapes on the driver side of our Y-pipe demonstrate the lack of ground clearance and why GM flattened it.

With the over-the-axle pipe cut, we simply had to unbolt the rear muffler assembly from the hangers to remove it from the Camaro.

And just like that, the stock transverse muffler and Z28 tips were out of the car. Note the clever way GM worked it so they didn't need to manufacture left and right hand tips

With the old stuff gone, Josh could then start installing the new stainless tubes. First up was the 3-inch chambered resonator intermediate pipe. According to Stainless Works this really helps alleviate the dreaded "drone" found in some other systems.

We then used the appropriate pipes to route the system over the rear passenger-side axle tube. Stainless Works supplies band clamps for all the connections, or you can weld for a more positive seal.

Next up was installing the pipe over to the driver-side chambered resonator.

The system came with new hangers, but Josh decided to use the factory isolator mounts instead. The supplied hangers were bent to the right shape, slid into the rubber mounts, and welded to the stainless exhaust.

Driver's side.

Before tightening everything down, Josh used a tape measure and level to make sure the tips were in just the right spot under Black Betty's back bumper.

The system comes standard with 31/2-inch slash-cut tips, but we picked up some chrome 3-inch Y-tips from Stainless Works. Certainly a big improvement over the outdated Z28 tips from the original system.

And here's the finished system behind the rear axle. Be sure to hit up www.camaroperformers.com for some before and after sound clips.